Ngarbur Massacre:

K’bo Declares Day of Mourning, Payers  

By Doh Bertrand Nua in Yaounde

His Lordship George Nkuo, Bishop of Kumbo Diocese has in a release issued Tuesday 18 February 2020 contradicted the figures presented by government through the Ministries of Defense and Communication on the number of deaths recorded in the killings in Nagrbur in the Northwest Region.

                “On Friday 14th February 2020, the military invaded Ngarbuh at 4a.m., and we are told that twenty-four (24) people were killed among were pregnant women and little children. Some of the victims were burnt and several others wounded,” read the communique in parts, adding, that nine houses were burnt down. 

                The Bishop called on persons of goodwill to assist and reach out to the hundreds of grief-stricken and traumatized persons displaced and seeking refuge in nearby villages under deplorable human conditions. He equally called for prayers to be said for victims of the incident.

                “I hereby declare Friday 21st February 2020 as a day of prayer and mourning in the entire Diocese of Kumbo for the Victims of the Ngarguh disaster. In this way, we shall vehemently say, “Yes to life and No to death” in solidarity with the recent message of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon,” the release read, urging all priests, religious, the faithful and men and women of good will in the Diocese to observe the day in prayer and mourning for those brutally killed, wounded and rendered homeless. 

                “As tradition, a requiem Mass should be celebrated in all our churches and where possible an ecumenical service be organised to implore God for an end to this socio political crisis that has plunged us into a senseless and painful war,” it added. 

                Bishop Nkuo decision falls in line with a recent decision taken by the the National Episcopal Conference, calling for a national day of prayer for the respect of human life in Cameroon every first Friday of each month.

                In the decision, the Bishops noted what they observed as “the agonizing and tragic situation of our land, gross disrespect, attack on the value, sacredness and dignity of human life, gruesome violations on the integrity of human life, the increase in crime, atrocities, corruption, terrorism, etc ... this like the numerous daily killings leading to the trivialisation of respect for life and its sacredness have greatly endangered human life.”